Tag: trauma

Nicola Roberts, the singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur best known for being in the pop group Girls Aloud, has spoken out about her experience of having trauma therapy as the survivor of a stalker. Speaking to the Guardian, Nicola described trauma therapy as “the best gift I ever gave myself”, after her five-year ordeal of being […]

The Window of Tolerance is a concept introduced by psychologist Daniel J. Siegel, to explain the level of comfort and stability for a trauma survivor to manage everyday life. Above the Window of Tolerance is a state of hyper-arousal, where you feel overwhelmed by memories of your trauma and associated triggers, and your body is […]

It is now three long years since three-year-old Alan Kurdi drowned in the Mediterranean – just one victim of many in the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis, but the image of his little body made headlines around the world. Alan died alongside his mother and older brother; his father was the only family member who survived […]

Schools across the UK started implementing newly updated statutory guidance this week to safeguard children, but what does this update mean for your child’s wellbeing? The Department of Education’s Keeping children safe in education document now heavily draws on guidelines from Working together to safeguard children, published in July 2018. There are many reasons for […]

As a consultant psychologist, I am stunned to see the Holy Father Pope Francis asking for God’s forgiveness for the atrocities that the Catholic Church has carried out through countless decades. Forgiveness comes, so religious scripture tells us, from repentance. Repentance is about making good the harm that has been done. More important repentance means […]

EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing, was developed in 1987 by psychologist Francine Shapiro. Whilst on a walk, she realised that moving her eyes backwards and forwards helped her whilst thinking about traumatic memories. By 1990, Shapiro had established the EMDR Institute, and today you will find EMDR practiced around the world. EMDR for […]

As International Women’s Day approaches (8th March), we felt it was only right to acknowledge some pioneering female psychologists throughout history, who so often get overlooked in favour of men. You might not have heard of these female psychologists and psychoanalytic experts, but that’s okay – just be sure to pass on what you’ve learned, […]

27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day – a chance to remember the estimated 11 million people (six million of them Jews) who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and future genocides. In understanding trauma that survivors live with, we as a society demand history doesn’t repeat itself, and we acknowledge those affected. This date was […]

It’s more than a cup of tea – it’s a cup of CALM. A cup of tea. How many nasty situations have been calmed by a cup of tea over the years? I could not begin to guess; could you? In 2015, an article in the Telegraph stated that the average British person enjoys 876 […]

Christmas is the season of fun and good will, but having PTSD at Christmas means the reality is often very different. The Christmas countdown can be one of the worst times of the year. The reasons for this are many: an expectation of the perfect day, having to shop in packed malls, thoughts of entertaining… all these things can lead to feelings of being out […]